Mourning for Michael Jackson

Life Philosophy 11 Responses »
Jun 292009

dangerousera[1]I am mourning for the death of Michael Jackson.

Those in my age (in the 40s) know very well that he has been part of our life. It did not matter where you lived. It did not matter whether you liked pop music or not. You could not be possible not heard of Michael Jackson if you are in my age. He was everywhere. He is still everywhere. I did not realize the scale of the impact only after his death. He united so many people in so many different parts of the world – from USA to Russia, from New Zealand to Scotland. His music and he himself as a person brought people together. The impact was so strong that it had surpassed any religion or political differences.

The last few days were spent in wandering along the memory lane of our youth by listening to Michael Jackson’s songs repeatedly.  Read his interviews. Looked at his photos. Read stories about his trial. I wish I had known him more. I wish I had been more connected to him.

The more I read, the more I realized how much the world has just lost – a generous genius, who has given all his gift to us – to entertain us, to inspire us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to make us feel good and to tingle our emotions.

He might not be perfect as a human being. That made him one of us. We all have our confusions, temptations, emotions. I did not hear him judge anyone in any of his interviews.  Also, being in the PR business for over 20 years, I know very well the destructive power and the capability of fact-twisting and sensationalizing technique of the media. Sometimes, they may not do it with intention. Unfortunately, journalists are also human beings. They form their own opinions on things and use part of the facts to support their opinion and the clever ones with words can create a real drama.

No one can judge the personal life of Michael Jackson. In fact, no one can judge anybody’s personal life.

Look at the joy and hope he brought to those many children in sickness. I finish this mourning by using one of his own songs he wrote in honor of a pediatric AIDS victim Ryan White. Now I use this to mourn my feelings for Michael Jackson, the true giver.

Like A Comet
Blazing ‘Cross The Evening Sky
Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow
Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye
Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly
And Splendidly Bright
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight
On A Cloudy Afternoon
Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle
Built Upon A Sandy Beach
Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower
That Is Just Beyond Your Reach
Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon

If you feel the same, join me and leave your comments.

Posted by ElaineR at 1:20 pm

Religion in China

Religion & Spiritual No Responses »
Jun 172009

Tips on China’s Culture

One quarter of the population on this earth are Chinese. Just in China alone, there are 1.3 billion people. As I am writing, how many more are born? It is impossible to generalize the tactics to deal with different Chinese people. Here I am sharing with you some of my experience from working in the area and being a Chinese myself! Remember: this is my personal experience only. You need to spend time, show respect and open your mind in order to understand anybody, as it is true in all human relationships.

There are so many different aspects involved in understanding Chinese. You can take the approach of ideology, business, philosophy, religion, economy and of course the most trendy “the art of war“.

What is the religion in China?

What is the religion in China? Or what are the religions in China? Tradionally, do the Chinese believe in God? I need to be careful. This is a theological question, but with political sensitivity. Everybody knows that one of the Communist’s ideologies during Chairman Mao period was “religion is poison”.

The basic philosophies which formed more or less the traditional Chinese moral system are Ru (Confucius), Fo (Buddhism) and Dao (Daoism, also called Taoism).

These are philosophies, not religion, because they do not point us to worship any specific deity. But the values between parents and children, between husbands and wives, between emperors and citizens, between different hierachies are laid-out. It is the norm that seniority deserves respect. This belief of giving respect to your seniors is very much deep-rooted in the value sytem of the Chinese. That may explain some of the behaviours of the Chinese government.

Fate is another subject that derived from the 3 major streams of philisophies, especially from Taoism. Fate is something mysterious, beyond our control. Our life is somehow guided by fate. The way to deal with it is to come to terms with fate. Another major concept, which comes from the Buddhism, is Yuan Fen (an ordained tie that brings people together, especially couples). This Yuan Fen is a lubricant in all sorts of relationships, be it business or personal. There are so many manufacturers, why do I feel particularly drawn to you? Apart from you have a better offer, Chinese believe, it is Yuan Fen that brought us together.

So, go back to the question. Traditionally, do the Chinese believe in God? My own personal view is yes. Chinese believe in “a” God. We have sayings from the ancient books like “3 feet above there is a God”, “the heaven’s net is tight, you can’t run away with it” (meaning if you have committed a crime, no where you can hide), “you will be punished by what you did, if not today, the time will come”. This concept in heaven forms the conscience in our heart which guards our behaviour.

Posted by ElaineR at 2:36 pm Tagged with: ,

Chinese Language

Arts & Culture No Responses »
Jun 152009

Tips on China’s Culture
One quarter of the population on this earth are Chinese. Just in China alone, there are 1.3 billion people. As I am writing, how many more are born? It is impossible to generalize the tactics to deal with different Chinese people. Here I am sharing with you some of my experience from working in the area and being a Chinese myself! Remember: this is my personal experience only. You need to spend time, show respect and open your mind in order to understand anybody, as it is true in all human relationships.

There are so many different aspects involved in understanding Chinese. You can take the approach of ideology, business, philosophy, religion, economy and of course the most trendy “the art of war”.

What is the language?

Mandarin is the official language in China, although people in different parts of China may speak their own dialets. For example, Cantonese is the predominant spoken language in Hong Kong and most of Guangdong province.

When it comes to written Chinese, the gramma and style are more or less the same in Mandarin and Cantonese (of course there are different colloquials). The only major difference is that people within Mainland China write in simplifeid characters and people in Hong Kong and Taiwan write in traditional Chinese characters. It is confusing, isn’t it? Yes, the dramatic history of China has produced variations in culture and languages in different parts of the country.

BTW, there is no such thing as written Cantonese. Many of the words in spoken Cantonese are simply non-existent. The sentence structure is also different from the written language. That is why it is more difficult for foreigners to learn Cantonese than Mandarin. In recent years, the media and some writers in Hong Kong try to make up words they speak into written format. I guess years later, there may be a developed system of written Cantonese!

Be careful when you first learn to speak Mandarin or Cantonese, there are 4 intonations in one Mandarin word and 9 in a Cantonese word. If your intonation is slightly off, it can mean something totally different!

To make it simple, here is a chart:

Write in
Speak
Chinese within Mainland China
Simplified Chinese characters
Mandarin
Chinese in Taiwan
Traditional Chinese characters
Mandarin
Chinese in Hong Kong
Traditional Chinese characters
Cantonese
Posted by ElaineR at 10:52 pm Tagged with: ,

The Old Town of Li Jiang

Food & Travel No Responses »
Jun 142009

When I was working in China, I often asked the people I met there where were the most beautiful places in China. I always got these 2 answers: Li Jiang (丽江) in Yunnan and Jiu Zhai Gou (九寨沟) in Sichuan.

Li Jiang literally means beautiful river because it’s situated near the first bend of the longest river in China Yangtze. It’s called first bend because the river makes a 90 degree turn from South to East within one kilometer. Situated on an altitude of over 1800 meters, Lijiang is not far from Tibet. When I was there, I could actually feel the thin air.

It was a cold clear day when I visited Lijiang for the first time after so many people told me that it’s a must-visit place in China. It’s winter. Cold but not snowing and it was sunny, the type of sun shine that you could imagine as in 7 Years in Tibet. Since it’s in high altitude, you felt like you could almost touch the sun and the beautiful blue sky.

It was 2003. I don’t think the place was as developed as nowadays in terms of tourism. I notice that there seems to be many good hotels offering by different travel companies now. But when I was there, those posh hotels were not there yet. We were put in the best hotel in the old town of Lijiang – so we were told. But little did we know that the hotel had time control on offering hot water. I was not feeling well one day may be due to the thin air and I stayed in the hotel almost whole day. It was December but they turned off the heating during afternoon. I was freezing and wanted to take a shower. After some negotiations, they finally gave me a flask of hot water to wash my body.

But that experience did not affect my affection towards the place. The Old Town of Lijiang is one of the most well-preserved old towns  in China. In fact, The Old Town of Lijiang (as well as Jiuzhaigou) are included in the UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The buildings are very beautiful. Silver was one of the main selling items. You can get very good value silver in Lijiang.

We strolled along the stone built roads and were attracted into some of the roadside cafes. We went into one owned by a woman, who came from Tibet to start her business there. We ordered Tibetan dumplings and Tibetan sweet milk tea. It’s very unusual. There’s also a guest book in the cafe which tourists used to leave their comments. Many went there because of the recommendations by Lonely Planet. I did see some lonely souls left messages for other people to contact them to finish the lonely journey together.

I have also heard of a beautiful love story in Lijiang. There was a Korean woman who went there for traveling and fell in love with a local man so she stayed. They then opened a Korean restaurant together in Lijiang. One of my friends told me this story after coming back from his holidays there and he said to me that Lijiang was the most romantic place in the world! Yes, these are the exact words from a man. Not sure if the restaurant still exists. If anyone happens to read this article and know more of the story, please leave your comments.

I wish I will have the chance to go back and stroll along the stone built road, sip Tibetan tea by the little streams passing through the whole old town of Lijiang and listen to the love story of people met in holidays.

The Old Town of Li Jiang is a very beautiful place. Do you agree?

Continue reading »

Posted by ElaineR at 9:19 pm Tagged with: ,

How to do business in China

Business No Responses »
Jun 142009

How to do business in China pointers

It is indisputable that China’s growing economy has got huge business potential.

Either you want to sell to or buy from China, here are some pointers:

1) Know what is Greater China Area
First of all, you will need to understand what is Greater China Area and how do they operate logistically and what are the differences in terms of culture and government policy.
Greater China Area includes China (also called Mainland China or PRC), Hong Kong and Taiwan. Each has its unique histoy, economic development and even language (e.g. Hong Kong speaks Cantonese and writes in traditional Chinese, Taiwan speaks Mandarin and writes in traditional Chinese and Mainland China speaks Mandarin but writes in simplified Chinese. More info can be found in Chinese language). Before you start your business, it is important to do some research on the differences.

2) Play by the rules
Economically, China is growing stronger and stronger everyday. To do business with China or start up a business in China, you need to know that the government has laid out rules for foreign companies to follow. China is vast. I respect its leaders because it is not easy at all to maintain the stability. Rules are absolutely important. Find a lawyer or a trusted organization to help you get started.

3) Find a local partner
No matter how difficult it is, find a local partner. This will offer you great help. But be cautious. Do not rush. Getting the right partner is very important. You will need to find out if your potential Chinese partner’s business has registered with the General Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.

4) Find out where to set up your business
Find out where to set up your business. Should you set up in Hong Kong? Should you set up a representative office in Mainland China? Should you go for Chinese-foreign joint venture? These are all important to know before you start.

5) Find out how to transfer money
The ultimate aim of doing business is to earn money. There are restrictions of transferring money out from China. Find out clearly first before you decide how to manage your account. Talk to your bank.

6) Learn the culture and etiquette
Many businessmen go to China with fantastic ideas and strong financial background. But this does not always guaranteed you success. You will neeed to learn and understand the culture. If you fail in relationships, you will fail in your business. Remember the famous word: guanxi (relationship)?

7) Understand the internet and publishing law
It is essential that you understand the publishing law, especially in the internet area. To run a revenue-driven or advertising-placement web-site in China, you need to be licensed. There are problems of bandwidth which will affect the loading speed of your web-site both inside and outside China. These are issues you will need to look into if you want to have a web presence for your business.

Resources:
China State Administration for Industry & Commerce of the People’s Republic of China
Hong Kong Trade Development Council

Posted by ElaineR at 2:57 pm Tagged with: ,
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